If you find a set with better clarity and articulation than those Bill Lawrence makes I'd buy 'em. I have a P46 in my PBass and there'll be a set of J45s going into my Jazz Bass next month. The J45s are noiseless and like the P46 they have an extra pole piece on each coil and the A and D pole pieces are slightly raised to conform with the fret board radius and give you better balance across the entire string set.

The clarity and the punch is what I was after and I'm not disappointed. I'm a big fan of his Keystone Telecaster pickups which is what lead me to try the bass pickups too. As boutique pickups go the stuff Bill produces is innovative and IMHO a real bargain.

Well without knowing what the output of the '62s are you really don't know it that means low output or not.

I let my amp do the work and anyway the output can be somewhat subjective as far as the level of the height adjustments of the pickups. The P46 pickup on my PBass is actually set quite low at the moment and it doesn't lack anything as far as output is concerned.

To each his own but I'd put that question to the folks at Wilde. IME their pickups aren't shy on producing volume at all.

I like vintage tone (60s) a lot BUT i also love clarity and tightness... i really dont know what i want.. any input??

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"clarity and tightness" is what vintage jazz pickups are all about!

if you don't know what you want, i suggest you get some decent vintage-styles (of whatever brand) and stop worrying about it;

they'll get the job done and allow you to do whatever you need musically; so much of the tone equation is about the rest of the rig, and about your playing, so as long as you have something "good" in there, you won't be held back by the pickups.

a more "specialized" or unusual pickup might be good for some styles but not others, while the classic fender-types seem to be just right for almost anything.

What year is your MIM Jazz bass? .. it matters if your bass was made prior to '01, as it may have the same size pup routes in both position (I am assuming it is a MIM Standard) and may not accept an aftermarket set without some bridge pup routing ...

I have a MTD Grendel 4 which originally came with Bart's. This bass has had 4 different set of J pickups in it including another set of Barts, Nodstrand NJ4s and now Joe Barden. I have also had various Dimarzio's, Duncans and Delano's on previous basses.

The Barden's absolutely blew me away. These were recommended by my luthier. They are pricey but IMO worth it. Uncompressed and very open. Not a one trick pony. Everyone who has listened to or has played this bass has commented on the huge tones.

Those are some really nice pickups. I just sold a 62 RI and it had : Vintage single coils" whatever that means but they were some seriously sweet pickups, I tried a few others including the Lawrence but nothing sounded like the original Fenders.

The Lawrence pickups I would say sound more even which can be a good thing but they do not sound like single coils. The Fender Super 55's were pretty close. But if you want that single coil sound you need good single coil pickups.